Stranger than Fiction

Tools

Guards caught Bobby Finley, 20, using bolt
cutters to get through the chain-link fence that surrounds the jail in
Miller County, Ark. He wasn't escaping, however, but trying to break
into the jail to sell drugs and tobacco to prisoners. State Trooper
Scott Clark told the Texarkana Gazette the case was the first
one he'd worked "where somebody went to so much trouble to remove an
obstacle so they could bring contraband into the jail."

Gun goofs

A 37-year-old security guard in Glendale,
Ariz., was getting ready to leave for work, when, according to police
official Tara Simonson, he tried to place his gun in a holster in the
small of his back and accidentally shot himself in the buttocks.

Maryland getaways

After the Maryland Zoo opened its new $500,000
escape-proof prairie-dog habitat, half the rodents inside needed just
10 minutes to figure out how to bypass the aircraft wire, poured
concrete and slick plastic walls. None escaped, zookeepers told the
Baltimore Sun, but they managed to find every weakness in the
enclosure and jump and climb over the walls, sending workers scrambling
to plug escape routes by adjusting the wire fencing and installing more
slippery plastic on the walls. "They find all the weak spots and
exploit them," zoo chief executive officer Karl Kranz said.

Spell check

The British government has directed
schoolteachers not to require pupils to learn the spelling rule "i
before e, except after c," because there are too many exceptions. "It
is not worth teaching," says the government document "Support for
Spelling," which is being sent to thousands of primary schools. Jack
Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling,
said he agreed with the decision, but supporters said the rule has
merit because it's one of the few that most people remember.

28?

When Andrew Mizsak of Bedford, Ohio, ordered
his son, Andrew Jr., to clean up his room, the son became angry, raised
his fist at the father and threw a plate of food at him across the
kitchen table. The father called police, who reported, "Andrew was sent
to his room to clean it. He was crying uncontrollably and stated he
would comply." Andrew Mizsak Jr., who lives rent-free with his parents,
is 28 and a member of the Bedford School Board. His mother, Paula, is a
Bedford councilwoman. Andrew Mizsak Sr. told Cleveland's Plain
Dealer he "overreacted" by calling 911 and wouldn't press charges
because "I don't want to ruin his political career," but after other
school board members heard of the incident, they voted to strip Junior
of some of his duties.

The blame game

A British Columbia volunteer search-and-rescue
unit announced it is suspending service because a lost skier filed a
lawsuit blaming it for taking too long to find him and his wife after
they got lost in the wilderness. Gilles Blackburn said the Golden and
District Search and Rescue (GADSAR), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
and Kicking Horse Resort didn't do enough to rescue him and Marie-Josee
Fortin, 44, who died of hypothermia after seven days, two days before
rescuers found them. GADSAR's president, Joel Jackson, said the group
wouldn't resume operations until the province provides legal coverage
against actions such as Blackburn's.

District of Columbia Council member Jim Graham
blamed neighborhood crime on pizza slices. Acknowledging that pizzerias
which stay open until 4:30 a.m. are popular and operating legally,
Graham said they nevertheless have become a nuisance "in terms of
music, in terms of letting people hang out and also in terms of
tolerating a certain level of violence." Graham said he is drafting
legislation to crack down on late sales.

Mensa rejects

Justin Sleezer and Cameron Chana, both 22,
suffered fatal head injuries when they stood up on a double-decker bus
as it drove under a highway overpass. The Associated Press reported
that the bus was going about 40 mph and that several of the 20 people
partying on the upper deck were standing. Witnesses said the two
victims were the tallest ones: 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 3 inches.
"I'm thinking the other taller guys were sitting down," Sleezer's
friend, 5-foot-7 Robert Stiles, 22, said, adding, "There was nothing
ever said to us about any safety precautions."